Schizo in Shibuya
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: Joshua often is what he doesn't want to admit; alone. Emmeline is an automatic writer diagnosed with mild schizophrenia. Where Em sees a chance at revenge, Joshua just needs a new Game Master for the next Reaper's Game. They both have something that the other needs- even if they're not aware of it yet. [R&R]
1. Intro

Shibuya annoyed her.

Automatic writing was a talent that had always been with her and when her family visited Shibuya during the summer, it became an instant hand cramp without even being in a mile radius of the shopping district. It had a profound effect on her- but a profound effect does not mean that it was a nice effect.

Some times she couldn't decide if knowing Japanese enough was a good thing or a bad thing- she could read their uncensored thoughts whether she wanted to or not and it all ended up on paper. As long as no one saw them, she figured she wasn't going to be attacked any time soon. For an American, she normally kept her mouth shut when it came to blurting out secrets or someone's private thoughts. It was more of a talent than her automatic writing.

_Hey kid, why you lookin' so down?_

She blinked for a moment then looked down at her notebook. What she had drew was a complete mess- in place of some rhyme or reason, there was a lot of scribbling that could have better resembled sound waves. But there was a clear form hidden in the right hand side of the paper, just barely visible that had an indication of speech near it.

"It's too loud." she said. "I hate Shibuya."

_Hate is a strong word. But... I guess if you are overwhelmed, come to WildKat. I'll let you in, it's closed but it'll be quiet. We can talk more there- is that alright?_

She looked blankly at the paper as her focus was made dimly by a hand attached to her body that she could not control. She could sense the sincerity in a voice she could not hear.

"Okay." she agreed dully as she sat up and started to walk toward the shop.

She held her sketchpad in such a way that she was able to keep her hand moving as she walked past the multitudes. When she got to WildKat, she heard a faint click at the door's lock and she let herself inside. Behind her, a visible static arranged and formed itself to make out the appearance of Sanae Hanekoma. Disinterested of his arrival (due to her partially knowing he was already there) she found a spot to sit and curled herself up into a ball- still allowing her sketchpad to rest on her knees a little so she could continue drawing.

"So, which parent dropped you off at Shibuya today?" Mr H asked as he started up a coffee machine. "Haven't seen you in a year or so, how have you been?"

"Mother is in Cairo." she said slowly. "She had a promotion."

"What about your father?" Mr H asked. She looked forward, her eyes unfocused a little, and her hand never stopped moving.  
"104" was the answer.

"So it's a business trip then?" Hanekoma said as he got a cup and filled it with a steaming dark liquid from the coffee machine. She shrugged and nodded at the same time, her vacant expression unchanging. Mr H walked over to her and gave the cup to her.

"You like hot chocolate kid?" he asked.

She looked up at him.

"Yes." she said, reaching out for the drink to take a sip. Carefully (fully aware of her condition) she took the cup from Hanekoma and cautiously started to drink the warm beverage. Her fingers never stopped twitching though- it was if they were begging her to draw again.

Then the door to the shop opened. She and Mr H turned their heads to see who had entered, and for a moment it looked as if no one was there but visible static proved them wrong as it arranged itself to form a kid around her age. She glared at him while almost dropping her cup in surprise. She had to put her cup down and get her sketchpad again, the feeling was too overwhelming- she would have died if she didn't obey it.

"We're closed you know." Hanekoma told the kid.

"Then you need to lock your doors a little better." the kid smirked.

Hanekoma smirked back.

"What'cha want Joshua? I have a visitor."

Joshua turned his attention to her for the first time, and in turn she stared blankly at him. Her hand was feverishly orchestrating something big on the sketchpad without so much looking down at what she was doing. It was unnerving in a certain way that was only made harder by the fact neither of them wanted to let go of their gazes first- they were both god-awful stubborn. Mr H saw this problem quickly, and decided to change the subject.

"What are you drawing kid?" Mr H asked her, leaning over a little to see what she was doing.

Realizing what she had been doing, she looked down at the sketchpad and forced her hand to stop drawing. In a single yank, she pulled off the paper she was working on and shoved it in Hanekoma's direction.

Hanekoma took the paper gently and looked at it. After looking it over for a moment or two, he smirked.

"Well, isn't that a wonderful likeness?" Hanekoma said with a light chuckle.

From where she sat, her fingers itched a little but it was enough to ignore the urge. Joshua simply didn't care. Mr H looked at Joshua and laughed.

"I'm beginning to think there's a gas leak near here." Joshua said, flicking a piece of hair away from his face that was no where near his face. Mr H laughed again and turned to paper around to show Joshua the drawing.

It took a moment for him to process what he saw, then he turned to her with an unreadable, yet terrifying, look.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked.

She only stared at him as the itching in her fingers was growing prominent again.

"You know how I like to say that I am incredibly fond of those who win the Reaper's Game and still choose life than erasure?" Hanekoma then said, turning the paper around so he could look at the drawing again.

"No." Joshua said flatly.

"Are you sure? I'm sure I've mentioned it at least once..."

Joshua grimaced at Hanekoma.

"Your point?" Joshua asked, flicking his hair again with impatience.

"No reason," Hanekoma said, pushing it aside, "I just thought I've let it out before."

Joshua made a dissatisfied look before heading back out the door. The moment the door opened, he started to break into static then faded from view.

"Well then." Mr H said, sticking the drawing into one of his pant pockets.

"I made him mad." she said, her hand starting to draw once more on the paper with Joshua gone.

"Nah, he's always like that." Mr H told her. "He was secretly impressed at how well you had drew his real form."

She looked at Mr H with a good degree of uncertainty. The words on her paper were forming differently, but she wasn't going to tell him that.


	2. Broken

"Mister Fredericks, I believe we agreed that this was going to be a private meeting..."

"I understand this Erasona-san, but my daughter Emmeline is disabled and can not be alone for long. I promise that she will remain as silent as possible during our meeting, but I can not risk having her out on the streets at this hour."

The Japanese business man looked at her in an act of disapproval and defeat. In turn, she looked back at him dully and with a hint of disrespect. The Japanese businessman unconsciously held himself higher and tightened his tie.

"She can sit at the foot of the table, we will do our operations at the other end." the businessman then said in a voice that peppered with anger.

"Thank you for understanding sir." her father said gratefully. The businessman gave an irritated grunt, but said nothing in front of her father's face. She knew he wanted to say, though, as those thoughts found themselves onto her paper but she remained silent and formed her opinions in her broken mind.

_Why did I give it away?_

_Why did I want it back?_

_I'm trapped in my own mind..._

_Is it all because of him...?_

She didn't appreciate how often she was drawing him now after they met for the first time. This was the fifth picture her hand drew of him within the last seven minutes. There was something about him that her hand couldn't get past- almost as if it had become a fetish that you worked hard to ignore but found you no longer could. There was something going on in the muscles that controlled her hand but didn't obey her brain; what was it trying to tell her?

_Broken little minds,_

_Broken little pieces._

_Put them all together,_

_For a larger picture._

Suddenly, an idea came to her. Carefully, and rather awkwardly, she started to force her hand to draw a new background on top of the new one. She forced her hand to draw a caricature of herself next to him. It was a lovely little depiction of herself- it was only because that was how she viewed herself and not how she really looked.

_What the hell are you doing here?_

Oh yes, he was mad now. Somewhere inside of her, she became tickled with glee. She expressed this by adding a rather wide and semi horrifying smile on her caricature.

_I'm about to screw your fucking little mind up._


	3. Wrong

Joshua laughed at the apparition.

"Don't laugh at me!" she said, her voice sounding like static from an old radio. Her appearance wasn't all that stable either- if you chose not to blink you would see the form fade out for a moment before violently snapping back to view.

"You can't do anything to me." Joshua told the apparition with a light chuckle.

"I can."

"Then prove it."

For a long time, the apparition looked Joshua dead on. Slowly, the background behind the two dissolved and formed into a new background. Joshua yawned.

"Is that all?" he asked.

The apparition growled.

Slowly, something started to appear around Joshua's neck. It took him a few moments, but when he found out he looked at the apparition as if she was insane; a noose was forming its way around his neck as the ground around him fell away.

"Are you scared now?" the apparition asked maliciously. Her nose was bleeding in crimson red- it amused him to think that whatever she was doing to manipulate the environment was taking a rather hard toll on her.

"Not of you." Joshua told her.

The apparition sneered at him, then disappeared in a blink of the eye. The world around Joshua returned to normal and the noose disappeared without leaving a mark on him. Joshua wasn't afraid of her, but he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't interested- if only by a little. She could, however, may be of use in the next Reaper's Game...

. . .

"Emmeline! Emmeline answer your father!"

She hadn't even realized her nose was bleeding so badly until she was being shaken from her dream-like state. She didn't want to leave just yet- but the tone of her father's voice made her know that she had to leave. Her head was light and her stomach felt sick- maybe it was from the mass hemorrhage, or from her elated sense the she _could_ screw with him... or both. But she needed practice. Even Carrie had practiced her hell-sent power before she unleashed it- why couldn't she do the same?

"Emmeline Utada Fredericks, you look at me now!" her father demanded with enough worry in his voice to make her flinch.

With her mind and thoughts back in the real world- she did as she was told. She looked up at her father as tears started to flow from her eyes.

_Wrong emotion- wrong reaction... why...?_

"You are mad." she said, choking on her words a little. Her father looked at her with so much relief that he nearly started crying.

"We need to get you to the hospital." her father told her before turning the Erasona-san. But it was the Japanese businessman that said something first.

"I think your daughter is more than just 'disabled' Mister Fredericks. We will pick this up another day."

Her father looked at the businessman with a look that wasn't sure whether to be insulted or not. Regardless, he gave a formal bow before saying,

"Thank you Erasona-san, for your time."

The Japanese businessman said nothing, but he gave Emmeline a look that revealed his true thoughts well enough.


	4. Restraint

_Is this going to hurt? I refuse to help if I'm going to get hurt!_

"Pain is practice."

_Gee, that was the most reassuring thing I've heard all day._

She gave a small, forced smile in reaction to the sarcasm in his voice that oozed through his tone and onto her paper. If she was going to make this work, she needed Mr Hanekoma's help. Here's hoping that whatever force that let her manipulate Joshua expanded to all of the UG- including Mr H.

"Just a trim? From the neck up..."

_What?! No, no, no! A recolor, remember? Recolors are simple- people do it to computer sprites and stuff all the time. With that being said- I think I got some coffee spilled on my vest the other day, it would be nice if you could make it completely gray again._

"Fifty shades?"

_Ah ha ha, no. One would be fine._

Emmeline smiled before she started to work. Carefully, taking time to be as precise as possible, Emmeline took control of her frenzied hand and let the graphite in her pencil slowly darken the shade of the static that gave away Hanekoma's location in the UG.

_H-hey! I think it's working kid!_

But it wasn't enough...

_What are you doing?_

More color, there had to be more.

_Stop! That's enough!_

Her nose was starting to bleed again, but didn't care. She acted as if she didn't even notice it.

_Kid, if you don't stop right now, I'll make you!_

She ignored him, she filtered him out like parental controls on the computer. Emmeline only stopped drawing and adjusting when her pencil suddenly flew out of her hand by some invisible force. Emmeline stared at the place her pencil flew to with a blank glare. She could feel Hanekoma sit down beside her and place a semi-assuring hand on her back. She wanted to cry, but she looked angry.

_First, I think the proper thing to learn first is 'restraint'. How about we work on that next instead?_

Emmeline did not answer and only stared at her pencil- it had been eaten by the Shibuya crowd and she was never going to get it back now. At least her father had more, but that had been her favorite one.


	5. Troll

It was time again to start planning another Reaper's Game, much to Joshua's dismay. After the last Reaper's Game that lasted three weeks (and the consequential actions that followed within those three weeks) you could almost bet that Joshua wasn't looking forward to going through with the practice again.

Gathering his thoughts, Joshua sat alone at WildKat as Mr H pretended to be doing something important. When the little bell chimed from above the doorway, Joshua did not take notice as a tall businessman came in and sat at the counter.

"What would you like boss?" Hanekoma asked the businessman once he had noticed the new customer.

"A cup of joe would be fine," the businessman replied cheerily enough, "No cream, be generous with the sugar."

"Got a sweet tooth, do we?"

"It's more in memorial of my daughter, really." the businessman told Hanekoma. "She used to have a sweet tooth so enormous that I nearly bought out a candy store for her once!"

"What happened boss, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well..." the businessman started to say as his face flushed a deep red color, "She's living."

"Then why a memorial?" Hanekoma joked as he slid a now steaming hot cup of coffee in front of the businessman. At first, the businessman did not give an answer and instead winched. Joshua looked up at the businessman with a new found curiosity.

"My daughter has this... mental condition." the businessman slowly started to say. "She was diagnosed about three years back around the last time I brought her to Shibuya with me. We don't know what started it, and she doesn't seem to remember it either- but now it feels like she isn't... It's like she isn't the daughter I knew before. It feels like... it feels like someone took the daughter I knew and switched her out with a cryptic, emotionless changeling instead."

"Must be pretty rough boss." Hanekoma said as he slid the coffee mug to the businessman, who then proceeded to down in all in three long glugs.

"Her name is Emmeline," the businessman told Hanekoma with trust. "You may have seen her before. She comes around this area often from what I've been able to tell."

"You'll need to describe her for me," Hanekoma told the businessman, "I'm not very good with names."

Unintentionally, Joshua let out a small snort in agreement. In a fraction of a second, Hanekoma shot Joshua a rather threatening stare.

"Hey you!" Hanekoma shouted to Josh from across the cafe, "You better control yourself over there, or I'll kick you out in a heartbeat!"

With a snicker, Joshua shrugged and returned to minding his own business. The businessman, who had been unaware that Joshua was there to begin with, turned around to look at Shibuya's Composer for the first time.

_There's something familiar about him..._

The businessman shook his head and turned his attention back to Hanekoma.

"My Emmeline about 1.5 meters tall, has really pretty eyes that are a dark brown that almost appear black (she inherited them from her mother's side of the family, bunch a freaks those lot are), and her hair is a rather brilliant shade of red that could almost be her most recognizable feature."

"Well," Hanekoma then said as he leaned on the counter, "Seems to me -with that description- your daughter is a troublemaker that shouldn't be left alone for long."

"So you have met her?" the businessman joked.

"Depends- does she carry around a huge sketchpad with her?" Hanekoma then implored.

"Y-yeah, she does!" the businessman remarked. "Actually... now that I'm thinking about it..."

The businessman turned around to look at Joshua again -who likewise gave him a rather blank stare- then turned back to Hanekoma.

"How often does that kid over there come around?" the businessman then asked curiously. Hanekoma peered around the businessman to looked at Joshua before returning his attention to the conversation.

"Usually when he wants something." Hanekoma said freely. "He used to come in all the time before he got this big job in the area, but now we don't talk as often."

"Well I'm sorry if my 'job' is more important than talking to you." Joshua said, breaking his silence, to walk over to the counter where the businessman was sitting and sat next to him. "Some times, I'd like to make sure the world's order is in check before talking to a man who treats coffee like hard liquor."

"What can I say? It's an addiction." Hanekoma joked with a shrug.

The businessman let out a soft chuckle in amusement. The rather happy moment was turned down when someone else came into WildKat.

"Emery...?" a small voice said. The businessman turned around from the recognition of his name and smiled at who had come in.

"There you are Emmy, I knew I'd find you around here somewhere!" the businessman remarked gratefully. "Come sit, I'm sure this man here will make you some hot chocolate in no time."

"I'm already working on it." Hanekoma claimed as he started to work behind the counter.

Emmeline gave a blank stare from her father, to Joshua, then to her father again.

"Come sit Emmy." Joshua teased in a hiss, "I'm sure you've been walking for a long time."

Emmeline did not give a direct response, but her hand was scribbling on her drawing pad fervently. Slowly, looking at if she was being controlled by strings, Emmeline walked over to the counter and plopped down unceremoniously next to her father- on opposite was where Joshua sat with a delightful little smirk. It made Emmeline's blood boil, while likewise getting a chill down her spine. That was when she realized something.

He knew.

"Emmeline, show this man on the other end of the counter one of the drawings you have." Emery told his daughter, oblivious to the animosity Emmeline had for Joshua.

"Come on kid, can I see one?" Hanekoma then asked as he slid a mug filled to the brim her way. "Of all the times you've come in here, I hardly get to see what you're doing."

As much as she wanted to show Hanekoma one of her drawings, the thought of Joshua sitting on the other end of her father made the idea seem like suicide. Regardless, with her will a subject to her mind's instructions, Emmeline leafed through her sketchpad with an anxious hand pretending to write on the counter before picking a drawing out done a few days before.

"Troll face." she told Hanekoma in a precise tone. Hanekoma looked over the picture and started to laugh. Emery was close enough to see the picture, but was not as amused by what he daughter had named it. Joshua was just barely able to make out what she had drawn, but what was on the paper was as distinguishable as the night from the day.

Joshua gave Emmeline a cold look as she likewise looked back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"The troll should go underground now." Emmeline told him gleefully as the corner of her mouth twitched. "He has a game to play."

"And it will never involve you." Joshua told her sternly. To this, Emmeline gave Joshua a sneer that was almost threatening.


End file.
